Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig (L) and Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director Michael Weiner appear at a news conference in New York, November 22, 2011, to announce a new five-year collective bargaining agreement that will allow play to continue uninterrupted through the 2016 season. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

Most Major League Baseball players favour tougher punishment for anyone caught using performance-enhancing drugs, the union chief says.

Players who test positive for PEDs face an initial 50-game suspension while offenders caught a second time are banned for 100 games. But it sounds like the players feel that's not enough of a deterrent, especially when first-time offenders cash in on the free-agent market, as Melky Cabrera did with the Blue Jays.

"We are at a point, and it's clear where the majority of players are: They want a clean game, and we want to make it clear to players that is where the majority is at," MLBPA executive director Michael Weiner said Tuesday on MLB.com. "We've had a good discussion about whether that's fair to treat players who make a negligent mistake the same as players who intentionally try to beat the system, whether or not 50 games for a first time is sufficient, and we'll discuss that over the course of 2013."

Weiner said MLB has the toughest drug testing of any team sport -- human growth hormone is now included. With that in mind, he added that some players are wary about their colleagues being punished too harshly for mistakenly taking PEDs.

The initial suspension for being caught using PEDs is expected to increase to 100 games before the start of the 2014 season.

JOB WELL DONE

As far as Bobby Valentine is concerned, not even one of the game's great managers could have gotten the 2012 Boston Red Sox to win.

"Connie Mack wasn't going to win with that team," Valentine told reporters during a press conference Tuesday to introduce him as athletic director of Sacred Heart University. "I thought I did a hell of a job in Boston. I thought what had to be done there was done except for winning a pennant. It's six months of a 62-year life. It's six months of a 42-year career in baseball. It's a blip, a little spot on the radar, as far as I'm concerned."

Valentine was fired by the Red Sox after they went 69-93 and finished last in the American League East. It was the first time since 1966 that Boston lost at least 90 games.

According to ESPN Deportes, free-agent outfielder and two-time drug cheat Manny Ramirez has a verbal agreement to play for the Taiwan-based EDA Rhinos of the China Professional League. Ramirez's deal with the team will only become official if he fails to land a job with a MLB team before March 7, the report says.

Ramirez played just seven games with the Oakland A's last season, hitting .167 with two homers and three RBIs, before being released. Before that, he served a 100-game suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs, the second PED ban of his career.

But in a MLB career that spans more than 2,300 games, Ramirez has a lifetime .312 average with 555 homers and 1,831 RBIs.

BRUTAL HONESTY?

Count Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke as one of the game's most honest players.

Greinke, who signed a six-year, $147-million contract with the Dodgers during the off-season after splitting 2012 with Milwaukee and Anaheim, told CBSSports.com that he picked L.A. based on one factor -- money.

"I could play for the worst team if they paid the most," Greinke said. "If the last-place team offers $200 million and the first-place team offers $10, I'm going to go for the $200 million no matter what team it was."

The Texas Rangers were also reportedly interested in signing the free-agent pitcher but when the Dodgers offered a contract that is the second biggest (in terms of annual salary) in MLB history, Greinke couldn't say no.

WE'LL PASS, JOHNNY

Johnny Damon has offered to fill the New York Yankees' temporary vacancy in the outfield.

Uh, thanks but no thanks, Johnny.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman put the kibosh on Damon replacing injured Curtis Granderson Tuesday, a day after the former New York outfielder lobbied for the gig on an ESPN New York radio show, saying "have me for six weeks and send me on my merry way."

It's not going to happen, though. The Yankees will try to fill the void left when Granderson broke his right forearm Monday with an internal candidate.

"He's just not going to fit our needs," Cashman said of Damon. "It's the same reason we didn't bring him in last year. We need somebody who can play the outfield every day. It's just not something we're going to pursue."

BRIEFLY

The Los Angeles Dodgers will broadcast their games to the local TV market in Korean starting next season, becoming the first team to go trilingual. The Dodgers, who signed Korean pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin in November, already air their games in English and Spanish ... Cleveland Indians outfielder Michael Brantley will miss at least 10 days after being spiked in the arm by Oakland A's third baseman Josh Donaldson on Monday. Brantley needed 15 stitches to close the wound on his forearm ... Indians pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, who missed most of 2011 after having Tommy John surgery and went 1-7 with the Boston Red Sox last year, has reportedly lost velocity on his fastball. He topped out at 88-89 mph in his first spring start on Sunday ... Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols expects to start playing spring training games in mid-March, right on schedule. Pujols had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in the off-season and has been taking it slow to this point.

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